A few pics from Fan Day.  Overall the weather held up and it seemed like a huge crowd.  Some of the folks in line for Coach Hoke were out at 8am this morning. First the players, including some new faces:   Thomas Rawls.  Fred Jackson had great things to say about him, and expect him in action early in the season   A few games may will come down to this very young man, Kicker (and punter?) Matt Wile. .   Molk fending off Mike Rothstein Koger not Kroger received high, high praise from Coach Hoke   Denard in a future spot for FSN    Treezy told me the players are asked not to Tweet, but Roy Roundtree can’t help it   The new scoreboard HD screens are incredible At least on the north side, I saw a lot of rust in the upper rows in the stadium.  I hope they tighten this up.

Technically – that’s 16MM SMD, High Definition LED.  Wow.  Codename: “The Impact 16”.

Later this morning, let’s Live Chat from Schembechler Hall.   I’ll launch sometime around 10:30am EDT I plan to Live chat through the Hoke press conference and perhaps through one or two of the assistant coach breakouts. Schedule: 10:30 am—Brunch in the Commons 11:00—Head Coach Brady Hoke (commons) 11:30—Assistant Coaches Interviews with Media (commons) 11:30 a.m.-12:40 p.m. – Player Photographs (Al Glick Field House) 11:50 a.m. -12:40 p.m.—Player Interviews (Al Glick Field House) 1:00-2:00 p.m.– Begin Team Photo at Michigan Stadium 2:00-3:30 – Fan Day at Michigan Stadium Michigan Media Day 2011

Check this out.   A family found this 50 Belgian Franc bill in their father’s possession after he passed away in 1998.  The man served in Africa in WWII and like many soldiers, kept a few relics from his days abroad.  It makes it on this site due to the inscription around the perimeter:

You know the story back in 1973.  Michigan and Ohio State tie 10-10 in The Game and each team finishes the season 10-0-1.   The trip to the Rose Bowl is determined by a vote of the conference athletic directors, who, influenced by the injury to U-M QB Dennis Franklin, favor the Buckeyes 6-4. Bo tells reporters it’s tragic and the darkest day of his career (left).   Ann Arbor is stunned. Students on campus were shocked as well.  At least one student, Jeff Silvestrini, met the news head on with some early 70s snark in his letter to the Daily (right). I tracked down Silvestrini via email who wrote me, “I can still recall the mood on campus when that vote was announced and how stunned everyone was.  I went to the UGLI that day and people could not believe that a broken collar bone could keep Michigan out, particularly as OSU had gone the year before.”  I think that echoed the sentiment of most folks that followed the Wolverines back then (and now, I suppose, given that Ufer, U-M fans and elephants never forget). And to make sure that folks wouldn’t forget either, someone was inspired to get the message out on the cars and file cabinets across the land.  Once again tapping into the Sapardanis archives from the 1970s,…

It was an early morning visit to the WTKA 1050AM studios to join Sam and Ira.  We talked a little 1903 U-M football, and in particular, the real origins of the Little Brown Jug rivalry.   Audio: [display_podcast] Caller JJ said he heard the jug was found on the sidelines.  As I mentioned there are a few versions of the story but knowing what I know now about this story, the least sexy version seems to be the real deal.  And in this case, it’s Oscar Munson simply finding the jug the next day (or even Monday) in the Michigan dressing room.   Before he died, Minnesota equipment manager Oscar Munson claimed he helped Michigan pack up their gear in the dressing room after the 1903 game.   Munson said he actually reminded the Michigan equipment manager (probably Tommy Roberts) to pack the water jug but was told, “get that damn thing out of here!” and the crock was kicked to the corner.   The next day Munson said he found it sitting where it was left and brought it to athletic director Cooke.  Other stories simply having him finding it on Sunday or Monday while cleaning up—no mention of a “damn” or a kick. Want more?  You’ve got the complete Little Brown Jug Lore series here: Part I: What Really Happened in the…

In this post, Steve Sapardanis mentioned the two-toned maize pants that were worn in the 1970s.  I added a photo of Rick Leach but I’m sensing there are still some non-believers out there.  Believe it – here are a few more photos thanks to Dr. Sapardanis: